kayode OGUNDARE@kaybaba99
Finally, Jose Mourinho’s second reign as Chelsea boss came to an end last week Thursday when he was sacked – although euphemistically called ‘departure by mutual consent’ – and predictably, although very unfortunate, the tributes or what I choose to call ‘crocodile tears’ started pouring forth in the form of tributes from the players.
First up was captain John Terry who posted on his Instagram account: “Thank you doesn’t seem enough. Sad, sad day. Gonna miss you Boss. The Very Best I have EVER worked with, unbelievable memories together.”
Next was Cesc Fabregas with this tweet: “Thank you for all you have done for me. I owe you a lot and we will all miss you. Good luck in the future.”
And Spanish defender Cesar Azpilicueta wrote: “Today is a sad day. I would publicly like to thank José Mourinho for his contribution to this club and for everything he has taught me over the years. I want to wish him all the best for the future. With him we have achieved very important titles and memories for the fans that will remain in the history of Chelsea forever. He will always be remembered. Thank you mister.“
As tear-jerking as these tributes and many more have been, I’m NOT moved one bit. If the players really loved Mourinho as much as they would have us believe, they could have upped their game just a teeny-weeny bit in the last 16 Premier League matches in which they have lost a massive nine, blotting Mourinho’s enviable record before he was shunted aside by the club’s owner.
That Chelsea won their very first game after Mourinho’s sack – their first win in four league games – does NOT make the departed man a bad manager. Far from it. That 3-1 win against Sunderland does not mean the club’s troubles are over, either.
I do NOT subscribe to the talk of a conspiracy to kick Mourinho out neither am I party to the small talk of betrayal of the Special One. As much as I want to find reasons to explain Chelsea’s macabre meltdown this season (apart from those I’d enumerated several times on this page), I just cannot get past the band of over-paid, over-pampered and under-achieving superstars who refused to pull their weight and justify the wages they earn weekly.
There is simply no way you can justify the fact that the defending Premier League champions, with practically the same team intact and under the same manager, had lost nine of 16 fixtures unless the commitment of the players had dropped abysmally.
Even under the bumbling David Moyes, who inherited Sir Alex Ferguson’s title-winning team in 2013/14, United fared better with seven wins, four draws and five losses in their first 16 Premier League games even though they ultimately failed to make the Champions League that year.
I don’t like thumping my chest to say I-told-you-so but I’d warned Mourinho to take a walk from Chelsea before it got to the point where he would be shown the way out like a common mediocre who got a job and fell down flat on his face.
Let’s quickly recall my advice to Mourinho in the article titled: Why Mourinho Should Jump Before He’s Pushed (published on November 2, 2015 and still available on www.isoccerng.com).
I said, among other things, that: “In 17 games in all competitions this season, Chelsea have scored 26 and conceded 27 goals. Coupled with the unfamiliar territory of 15th place on the league table, these statistics do NOT describe Chelsea. Or, at least, it doesn’t describe Mourinho’s team which is usually built on an impregnable defence.
Lest we forget, Chelsea hold the record for the highest ever points total for a league season (95); the fewest goals conceded during a league season (15); the highest number of Premier League victories in a season (29) and the highest number of clean sheets overall in a Premier League season (25) (all set during the 2004-05 season). They also hold the record for the highest number of consecutive clean sheets from the start of a league season (6, set during the 2005/06 season). These records were set under Mourinho in his first coming. If you add the fact that he masterminded three of their four Premier League titles, then you understand why he’s the best manger ever to handle the Blues.
Even the bad times are good under Mourinho. He described his final season at Real Madrid as the worst of his career, but still won the Spanish Super Cup, came second in La Liga, reached the semi-final of the Champions League and the final of the Copa del Rey.
Now, the same manager is superintending a team that has conceded more goals than it has scored, lost more games in just the first eleven weeks than it did in the whole of the 2005/06 season and now have the worst start ever to the defence of the Premier League. The previous record, held by Leeds United with 14 points from their first 10 games, has been eclipsed by Chelsea who now have 11 points from 11 games.
I’m sure what hurts Mourinho more than the fact that his team is losing is the fact that he’s forced to eat humble pie, reduced to looking for excuses and rhetoric to explain one dismal performance after another.
While it is good to see the self-styled Special One brought down from his high horse, its heart-rending to see him groveling before people he ordinarily wouldn’t care to share the time of day with.
Like all humans, I’m tempted to mock him for his misfortune but yet, like all great men, it will be uncharitable not to make allowances for his failings as a human being even if he failed to accord others that same courtesy.
What is sadder than seeing the normally unflappable Mourinho, with a microphone thrust at him, being unable to mutter an intelligible word other than ‘nothing, nothing, nothing” when asked what his reaction was to the latest debacle that was the loss to Liverpool.
It is a crying shame and this informed the reason why I’ve come to the conclusion that Mourinho needs a change of scene. I refuse to buy into the mass-hysteria that he’s being sabotaged by players and others at the club. Neither am I sold on the ludicrous conspiracy from game officials that Mourinho has employed in the past to curry sympathy but which has now worn thin.
Now, going forward, I think the best way to put Mourinho out of his misery is for him to take a walk, NOT WAIT UNTIL HE’S SACKED! Already, most people conveniently forget that, beyond the bluster, Mourinho is one of the most successful managers of all time. However, the results piling up now are the standards by which he will be judged and the memories by which he would be remembered. Everyone will talk about Mourinho as the coach who created all sorts of infamous records with Chelsea. Few will acknowledge that he won for the Blues their first league title in 50 years and that he has won eight titles for them while making Chelsea one of the biggest brands in world football.
I pray that Mourinho would see the sense in jumping before he’s pushed. If he needed any inspiration as to what a temporary sabbatical can do, he can take a peek into the books of Saturday’s conqueror Jurgen Klopp. Despite presiding over some of the most successful era in Dortmund history, Klopp left the club at the end of last season by mutual consent. Today, the club is doing well under a new manager and Klopp, after a deserved rest, is back in business with Liverpool, one of Europe’s biggest clubs.
I’m aware Mourinho is reluctant to leave, preferring to be sacked so he can claim a fat severance pay in the region of £37m or £9.5m (depending on who you ask). Without being privy to the fine prints of Mourinho’s contract, it is difficult to say for sure how much is due to come to him should he be sacked but knowing how much he loves Chelsea Football Club, the last consideration to leave the club will be monetary.
The only reason why Mourinho has not thrown in the towel, I think, is the fact that his pride has been injured and his ability called into question by the recent run of results and he’ll be desperate to turn things around so he can thump his chest and thrust the middle finger at his critics.
Unfortunately, things may not work like he’s envisaging and he might be hurting the club more by staying than by walking away.
For sure, Roman Abramovich’s patience will be sorely tested before he would sack Mourinho. The usually trigger-happy Russian is reluctant to fire his manager out of respect for the Portuguese and in order not to make the same mistake of 2007 when Mourinho was let go even though it was couched in the nice language of “by mutual consent’.
It is now left for Mourinho to take the moral high-way and walk out the Stamford Bridge door with his head held high. He’s got nothing to be ashamed of. Rather, in my opinion, he’s been a victim of his own incredibly high standards.
Yet, he can save the day by hearkening to the voice of reason urging him to go, go, go.”
As it transpired, everything I said in that article SEVEN weeks ago came to pass last Thursday when Mourinho was booted out ‘by mutual consent.’
Of all the commentaries I’d read since the Mourinho sacking (and I’ve read a lot), it is Kenny Dalglish’s comment after the Special One was embroiled in (yet) another fracas with then Aston Villa assistant manager Roy Keane that really hit the bullseye for me.
He said, as far back as October 2014 when Mourinho’s Chelsea swept everything before them and were coasting to a league title, that: “Mourinho is at the top of the tree at the moment. You can get away with a lot of things when you’re in his position. But maybe he should remember the old adage about being nice to people on the way up because you might need them on the way down. If things go a little wrong for him at some point in his career, he may find there are those who are keen to pull the ladder away from under him as quickly as they can.”
There are some who hold the view that, after winning the Premier League last season almost at a canter, the players are no longer motivated but I say that is a lot of crap. Hello? Where is that from? As I write this on Sunday morning, Barcelona are just rounding up a 3-0 victory over Argentina’s River Plate to clinch the Club World Cup. That is their fifth trophy in 2015 alone. If they are motivated to win more (they’re still in the running for three competitions this season) then talk about Chelsea’s de-motivation is lacking in merit.
Even if, for the sake of argument, I agree that they lack motivation, dropping to 16th with 15 points after 16 games is just too awful to contemplate. The players have to look at themselves in the mirror, going forward, because they’ll be under intense scrutiny.
If they still cannot raise their game after Mourinho’s exit, then we know the problem is not the former manager’s. On the contrary, if they suddenly start racking up excellent performances with good results, then inference will be drawn that their current poor form was instigated against the former manager. Either way, they’ll be nailed.
Fortunately for the players, though it is unfortunate for the club on the long run, they have a owner who indulge the players and put them over the manager when there’s a clash of ego.
As Ben Hayward brilliantly puts it, we are dealing with an Abramovich whose: “default mode is to never back his manager ahead of his players. He takes the easy route of firing the figurehead, thus empowering the players to feel that getting shot of a manager who antagonises them is always a simple business. This is the wrong type of power to put in the wrong hands and the next man in had better watch his back.”
To repeat what I said in the article quoted above, the only mistake Mourinho made was that he failed to leave when that was the commonsensical thing to do. He showed he truly loved Chelsea Football Club and not just because they pay his wages. That love, ultimately led to his sack rather than he taking the walk.
Be that as it may be, Mourinho has got nothing to be ashamed of. Rather, in my opinion, he’s been a victim of his own incredibly high standards.
You cannot keep someone like that down forever. He will soon be back in management. Sooner than you expect. Trust me, he’ll be back.
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